Neonatal Nurse Research Paper

Neonatal nurses play an important role in health care providing devotion and love for newborns, whether infants are born with birth defects, premature, critically ill, or perfectly healthy. A few tasks neonatal nurses are required to do is to feed, change, watch the infants closely, and help provide support to the new families (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Many choices or experiences in life could lead someone to this career; such as, babysitting seeing a sick child who needs help, or even personal experiences. All types of nursing require some type of degree; the smallest would be a two year associate degree. Although people can stop there, some nursing careers prefer more education and experience. There are also four year bachelor degrees,

Each career has a different set of steps, degrees, certifications, and tasks. For instance, to become a neonatal nurse people are required to start out as a registered nurse. Starting out as a registered nurse the person can either go into a two to three year program for an associate degree, or go straight into a four year program earning a bachelor degree including clinical experience. To specialize in a particular unit such as neonatal it will take an extra year and certification. Most nurses with a two year degree go back for their four year bachelor to have more experience and education behind

Most hospitals want more experienced people to be handling the infants for their health. Going to neonatal will require taking classes in pediatric care, pharmacology, and physiology. After going through all the registered nurse classes and prerequisites it will be time for the exam. Going on after that is when the RN would certify through a professional association, and state boards (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Neonatal nurses have more advanced tasks in this career. Some tasks required are taking care of newborns on three different levels. Level one care ensures that healthy newborns are warm, content and fed. Level two are infants needing special feedings, breathing difficulties, and born prematurely. Level three is neonatal intensive care critically ill babies who need surgery or high tech treatment (Learn.org.). Some newborns need to be watched more closely than others but all will need to be cared for constantly until they are released to their family. The specialized field of neonatal nursing did not really develop until the 1960s advancements in care and technology improved treatment greatly. Low birth weight and premature births were the leading factors in infant’s deaths (“Overview: Neonatal nurses.”). These nurses play a very important role in health care for infants born with these different health